2006 Audi A4 Reviews

2006 Audi A4 SE 2.0 TDI turbo diesel from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Lovely car - still not convinced it is worth any more than a Passat, which it basically is!!!

Faults:

Oil level sensor replaced under warranty twice. Pesky low oil warning keeps coming on, even when the dipstick is at Max, and gets worse as the oil ages and the car is close to a service. Have been subsequently told that "they all do this"... annoying nevertheless.

Oil consumption heavy - about 1.5L per 10,000 miles - hasn't settled down yet, even after 50,000.

Rear brake pads gone at 53,000 - strange booming noise coming from the rear of the car was the warning sign.

Front tyres wear out after 12,000 miles, rears last about 20,000.

General Comments:

Very nippy - uses the 140bhp 2.0 TDI. Usual Audi nose-heavy handling, never going to be a BMW chaser unless it's a quattro. Gearshift graunchy when cold - but is very slick otherwise.

Saloon practicality poor. Boot lid has a narrow opening, and for some bizarre reason, a folding rear seat is an optional extra (yet standard on new shape A4...).

Interior nice place to be, spoilt only by harsh ride - feels like the tyres are filled with cement (SE is bad enough - what's the S-Line like???). Mechanic told me this is a lot to do with the tyre spec.

13th Sep 2010, 14:14

15th Sep 2010, 06:12

It's a common misconception, as the original pre-2002 A4 shared the same (VAG B5) platform as the Passat of the time. Apart from the interior trim and body panels, they were virtually identical. They even suffered the same common faults as they get older, and you can virtually strip and rebuild either with the same workshop manual.

The 2002 on A4 moved to the VAG B6 platform, while the Passat, in 2005, moved to a stretched Golf/Jetta platform, where it remains today. The OPs car uses the B7, which is a mild revision of the B6, but both are/were exclusive to the A4, putting the Seat Exeo (A4 clone) aside of course.

From 2002 onwards, when the A4 moved away from the old B5 platform, the Passat and A4 became quite different cars, and remain so to this day.

Of course, whether the A4 is significantly better than the Passat remains a perfectly valid question.

2006 Audi A4 2.0 turbo from North America

Summary:

I absolutely hated this vehicle, it had cost me way too much to buy and maintain

Faults:

Within the first month of ownership, the engine light came on, a message (a very unclear message) was indicated that the engine was suffering from under/over boost. I was advised that it could be a sensor of some sort, that was changed, and the light came off.

Approximately five (5) months later, I exited the freeway and the exhausted began emitting a lot of white smoke with a very high metallic burning smell. I had the car towed (at MY expense) to the dealer, only to find out that the turbine was destroyed. My warranty only covered partial of the cost to repair. Out of a $5000 repair I paid $2300 out of pocket. A poor experience all round so far.

The funny thing is, the dealer said to me that my lack of care was the cause of all these problems, so the voided my warranty. They claimed that I was not idling the engine before my drives, and that I should idle for at least 5 minutes before I shut the ignition off. Some very odd requests I would say, it's not a high performance race car, and is sold to be driven everyday. What was even more odd was the fact that with my previous car it was a habit to run it before I drove. I exercised the practices with the Audi. I only used 94 octane and Audi recommended synthetic oils.

After the turbine replacement (they did not replace my intercooler, odd I would say with a turbine job) and oil pump.

About 3 months later, the turbine went again. I was very upset, I went back to the dealer and of course, they said it was my fault. I had an argument with the service manager and they agreed to replace the turbine at no cost to me. Finally, some help.

About 8 months have passed and the turbine is acting up again, the car also either runs too cold or too hot, and I'm also burning oil now too. withing 2 months of my last oil change, I burnt off 1 LITRE of oil. It's been nothing but problems, and I've decided to sell the vehicle, a complete loss on the money side of things because I have to sell at well below resale value due to the problems.

As of this point, I will NEVER purchase another VW/Audi product again.

General Comments:

- Poor service experience.

- Ongoing turbine issues, which were never resolved.

- Burning oil.

- Horrible rear seat space.

- Despite all the problems, it was a fun car to drive with the 6 speed transmission, just not worth the headache of maintaining it.

- Hope this was just my car, good luck to all you Audi owners out there.

1st Mar 2010, 12:28

Why is it that almost all the complaints about Audis are from North America? Just based on your experience, you've got terrible dealers, I mean, trying to blame you 3 months after the turbine failed. And anyone can tell you that with modern turbos you don't need to (but it would be good to) idle the car for 5 minutes before stopping. It isn't even in the manual.

Sorry for your bitter experience -- I've had 5 Audis, nothing more than a water pump or a hose.